Many beverages are offered in different flavors, yet have a similar or identical base liquid to which the flavors have been added. In many such instances, a base beverage formula is first prepared and a flavor, color or other possible additive is added to the base liquid formula so as to achieve the desired flavored beverage for hot-filling in bottles. With all such hot-filled beverages, how and when these flavors and additives are added to the base liquid formula is related to a number of different criteria and conditions, including sensitivity of the flavors and additives to elevated temperatures.
With any such hot-filled beverages which are intended for wide commercial distribution, shelf stability and/or microbiological control are important considerations for the products after bottling, especially those which need not be stored or displayed under refrigeration. Products of this type can fall into two broad categories. The first category includes beverages which are filled into containers when the beverages are at elevated temperatures, and are referred to as hot-filled beverages. The other category includes beverages which are not filled hot but instead include a preservative component or composition. Thermal processing of beverages is considered advantageous as it stabilizes a formula microbiologically, while maintaining most of the desired sensory qualities. In contrast, preservatives formulations often have negative sensory attributes. The present invention is particularly directed to thermally processed beverages, that is, those beverages that are pasteurized by heat treatment and hot filled into storage containers.
Hot-filling is designed for packaging of liquids which must be placed in the container while the liquids are hot to provide for adequate extended shelf life in accordance with well-known principles. Usually this involves the use of heat to pasteurize or commercially sterilize the product. Typically, the heat effectively sterilizes or pasteurizes the beverage immediately prior to it being placed in the container in which the hot-fill beverage will be shipped. The container is filled with the hot, sterilized beverage. This also has the effect of sterilizing the container. After the usual hot-filling of the beverage into the container, the container then is capped, prior to shipping.
All of these methods and systems have one or another drawback. In particular, complete hot-fill beverage, including taste and flavor components, travels through the thermal processing and the hot-fill equipment in many prior art approaches. Since the flavor and “cloud” emulsion are sensitive to high temperature and shear force, the heat and pumping action induced to product at thermal process can adversely impact the flavor quality and “cloud” emulsion stability of the finished beverage. Also, it requires that all equipment be shut down and cleaned whenever there is a flavor change desired in the final hot-filled beverage product. Further, only one flavor can be produced at a time. For example, if a lemon flavored drink is being made and an orange flavored drink is scheduled to be made thereafter, the line needs to be shut down to clean all of the lemon flavor from the product mixing equipment, thermal processing equipment and hot-fill equipment before the orange flavored drink can be produced. Otherwise, the orange flavored drink will not taste right and/or will not give a consistently flavored product over the run for this beverage. This results in significant down time of the production line. For example, a typical line could have 3 or 4 or more flavor changes a day, with each flavor change having a typical down time of 20-30 minutes. Hence, somewhere between one and two hours or more of a typical production day (24 hr) are wasted down time while the equipment is being cleaned and flavor changes are effected.
Hot-filled beverages with flavor components therein are thermally processed in typical existing flavored beverage production, and some of the flavor in the beverage is lost, damaged or otherwise modified during heating at the elevated pasteurization temperatures. Furthermore, most flavors degrade within 10 to 15 minutes at elevated temperatures. Therefore, usual good manufacturing practices place a 10 to 15 minute limit on recirculation of beverages which are flavored. This can result in requiring a new batch to be prepared prematurely and due solely to a concern for flavor degradation/display without refrigeration, leading to waste and the need for disposal of hot-filled beverage that has not been capped within the required time limits.
The present invention is directed to a method and system for overcoming the drawbacks discussed above and includes an arrangement which produces multiple products having different flavors and possible other additive materials. These products exhibit shelf stability allowing them to be stored and displayed at room temperature and/or non-refrigerated conditions.